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Mariya Shidou
Skills Mariya's social skills are his greatest asset. He's a fantastic actor and master of disguise, who can be absolutely anyone he wants to be. His "personality" and identity are in constant flux, subtly shifting to best suit his current situation. Given Mariya's manipulative, borderline sociopathic character, it's natural for him to use others as unknowing pawns and tools - first he figures out what they want to hear, then he uses it against them. Obviously, he's a great liar as well. Mariya is knowledgeable for his age in a variety of academic subjects. He got perfect scores on every single one of his most recent exams, proving his intellect. At ten, Mariya got his third-degree black belt; he's a lot stronger than you'd expect such a tiny, fragile young lady to be. He's practiced archery since he was old enough to hold a bow, and as a result he's now practically an expert. He's a talented singer, and can easily alter his voice to just about anything realistic...the most commonly seen application of this is the sweet, gentle female voice he usually uses in lieu of his real one. In general, Mariya is an all-around prodigy - if he sets his mind to something, chances are he'll take to it quickly. Mariya's greatest shortcoming is his inflated ego. As far as he's concerned, he's the most talented, intelligent, infallible person who ever lived...and because of that, not only is it easy for him to underestimate/dismiss the skills of others, but it's easy to manipulate him by exploiting his arrogance. Since he's so "perfect," Mariya finds it unthinkable that anyone would ever dare strike out against an Amazing Flawfree Goddess Like himself. So, when insulted or harmed, he takes it far too personally, and can become blinded by anger or spite. And, of course, he's human. If you want to kill him, just shoot him. Personality There are two sides to Mariya's personality. On the outside, he's a sweet, dignified paragon who practically radiates sunshine and can do no wrong. He's almost disgustingly perfect and pure – the type of person that prompts eyerolls in fiction and is just too ridiculous to exist in reality. His predominant traits are kindness and generosity; he loves people, looks for the best in everyone, and won't hesitate to do whatever he can to help those around him. Mariya's compassion is boundless, almost to the point of being a flaw – he just cares so damn much about everyone ever, and when someone else's heart is hurting, he hurts just as deeply in sympathy. Mariya possesses a sort of bashful humility, which quickly bubbles to the forefront when he's complimented or in the spotlight. The praise of others is just oh-so-embarrassing! It makes him nervous! But despite that, he's fairly confident, and is actually a natural leader and role model – it's just another vital part of helping people. All he needs is a bit more experience, to learn how to doubt himself less....and to learn to take his own needs into account too, rather than worrying about how to please everyone else. Mariya's usual demeanor exemplifies old-money nobility – well-composed, with a sort of quiet, understated dignity. His tastes are clearly upper-class, and since there's never been a time in his life when he wasn't filthy rich, he isn't accustomed to anything but the best of the best. Going a bit further, he's a tad sheltered, knowing nothing of the dangers of this world. And while that does wonders for his peaceful, serene personality, it also makes him fragile as fine china. Hurting or insulting him wounds him deeply, and although he's been taught not to wear negative emotions on his sleeve, he can't help but let a little out. In conflicts, Mariya tends to always put the blame on himself, and try to figure out how to make the other person happy; he's too much of a perfect saint to ever think completely ill of anyone else, no matter what awful things they do to him. He's excessively gentle, and unwilling to lay a finger on anyone else unless they really, reeeeally push him. Obviously, all of the above is complete bullshit. The real Mariya's primary trait is his arrogant narcissism – he believes he's literally perfect, going so far as to refer to himself as “the reincarnation of Jesus Fucking Christ.” His haughtiness is primarily born from twisted pride in his family name – because of his breeding, social standing, and obscene amounts of wealth, he's always been put on a pedestal, and he's internalized it enough to believe himself a breed apart of all else, born to lord over the “little people.” He's not just a brat; he's an absolute monster. Mariya's egomaniacal worldview comes with a complete lack of empathy for others. He thinks of people as objects, and how much he likes someone is directly proportional to how much use or amusement he can squeeze out of them. This doesn't necessarily mean he dislikes others; as far as he's concerned, commoners should be thankful that he allows them the privilege of being manipulated by him! He's almost a textbook sociopath – he can't relate to or truly care about anyone else, and he's perfectly happy with that. The pain and suffering of others amuses him, and so he's not above going faaaar out of his way to torment, troll, and make sure the lives of anyone nearby are as difficult and harrowing as possible. The only thing keeping Mariya from being an actual sociopath is the genuine care he shows for his immediate family. He truly respects his late grandmother, and honestly looks out for the best interests of his twin sister. Arguably, it's possible for Mariya to acquire lesser versions of these feelings for non-relatives if he's around them enough to become accustomed to their presence; after spending a while tormenting Kanako, he reached the point where he would occasionally do nice things for her just because, without any clearly selfish motives. Then again, he could have been doing that to confuse her, sink his claws into her, and further his good girl image. Only Mariya knows the truth, and he's not about to explain himself. Appearance Mariya is a petite, fragile-looking Japanese “girl” who stands at 5'3.5 and weighs 135 pounds. He's (thankfully) naturally androgynous, with a slender figure and gentle features. He has bright, expressive red eyes with thick eyelashes. His golden blonde hair is cropped short, ending right at the end of his neck in the back. His bangs completely cover his forehead, and are longer at the sides. However, in public, he wears a wig that reaches his lower back. He always wears it neatly, and usually has a long pigtail on each side of his head. He has a small teardrop mole under his right eye. His hands are unusually graceful and slender for a man. Mariya artificially creates a female figure by wearing a corset and small breastforms. Mariya is extremely vain. As far as he's concerned, he's the most convincing, attractive woman alive, biological sex be damned. Since he loves to be stared at and lusted over, he places high importance in fashion. He dresses modestly, as expected of a sweet and innocent maiden like himself, but knows how to carry himself and move in order to subtly bring attention to certain assets when he so desires. He also enjoys self-proclaimed "fanservice" - in the past, Mariya has worn costumes such as a maid, a nurse, an airplane stewardess, and a catgirl for the sake of drawing eyes and deliberately titillating others. Relationships Coming soon, herp a derp. History The Shidou family's fabulous wealth primarily derives from the two highly exclusive, top-league private schools they run - Ame no Kisaki for females, and Mihoshi no Mori for males. The previous chairwoman of the schools opted to leave her position to her first born-grandchild. The problem was that her first grandchildren ended up being twins - the male Shizu, and the female Mariya. Rather than split the fortune between then, the chairwoman created a contest to decide which of the two was more worthy, as well as train them to relate to the opposite gender, so that running both schools would be easier. When the twins entered high school, they would switch identities, and attend the school for the opposite gender disguised as the other sibling. Whoever went the longest without being discovered by a student of either school won. Although the chairwoman died before the twins were old enough to begin the contest, they still opted to go through with it when the time came, out of respect for their grandmother. The day before entering Ame No Kisaki, the newly-swapped "Mariya" met Kanako Miyamae, a transfer student who hoped to find her soulmate by enrolling. Briefly after their pleasant intitial meeting, during which Mariya kissed Kanako to lead her on for the lulz, Kanako accidentally walked in on Mariya getting dressed and discovered his secret. When Kanako threatened to expose Mariya, he ripped his maid Matsurika's top open and screamed for help...then told Kanako that once people came running, he'd frame her for sexually assaulting her, resulting in expulsion and a criminal record. Kanako gave in and agreed to keep his secret. Regardless, Mariya couldn't just let Kanako go – she was too much of a liability. Immediately afterward, he had himself and Matsurika transferred to be Kanako's roomates, so that they could keep an eye on her (and keep her in line) 24/7. Despite the whole situation being a pain, Mariya did enjoy holding her close – he had someone on hand all the time to toss gasoline on and dump carnivorous alien tentacle monsters on, and generally torment, and all he had to do was occasionally threaten to murder/stab/rape/etc her to keep her docile. Meanwhile, thanks to Shizu's excellent reputation among the girls of Ame no Kisaki, Mariya enjoyed an elevated status among the other students, immediately becoming freshman class representative, president of the archery club, and a general role model to his peers. The day both schools held physical examinations, Shizu couldn't stand the idea of stripping with boys nearby, and asked Mariya to switch places with her for the day. During this time, Kanako saw Shizu naked, discovering her true gender as well. The twins explained the bet to her. Technically, despite being discovered first, Mariya hadn't lost - Kanako wasn't a student when she busted Mariya, and therefore it didn't count. But on the other hand, she was a student when she busted Shizu. However, Mariya wasn't interested in ending the game so early - it wouldn't be fair to his sister, after such a small fluke. And so, he told her he would overlook her mistake if she knelt down and kissed his shoe. Shizu refused, instead running away crying. Immediately after Shizu left, black chords rose up from the ground and pulled Mariya into Pandora. Pandora History Mariya arrived in Pandora on March twenty-first, year one. He wasted no time getting adjusted to his new world and starting to regain his lost riches; by April, Mariya had already opened Strawberry Moon, a cosplay cafe intended to get him some base funds to work with. Though it was a rocky start at first - they were understaffed, and Mariya could hardly cook - by the end of the month the cafe was well-established. On May twenty-second, Mariya had enough funds ready that he could prepare his real plan for wealth: a fraudlent charity, co-run by Creed Diskenth and Hazama.